After watching No Country for Old Men for the first time, I decided that I must read the novel. Excellent so far.

Have you read any other McCarthy? No Country For Old Men was the first of his I read. It works as a nice introduction to his work, although in the grand scheme of things it's one of his lesser efforts.

I finished up Thomas Pynchon's new novel Bleeding Edge last week. It's one of his more accessible works, and his second mystery narrative in a row after Inherent Vice. The usual Pynchon tropes abound, from paranoia to pop culture references galore, only this time everything takes place at the opening of the last decade, just after the dotcom boom. You wouldn't think a writer now in his '70s could convincingly write a technological mystery/thriller, but he proves surprisingly adept with the turn of the century lingo and he gets all his references right (including a couple concerning Metal Gear Solid). Not sure if I would put it among the best of Pynchon, but it was a fun read.

On the side, I also read two graphic novels. The first was the introductory volume of Bill Willingham's Fables, which transposes fairy-tale characters into a modern noir-type setting. The first volume has an almost Sherlock Holmes feel, with the main character Bigby Wolf piecing together clues to solve the apparent murder of Snow White's sister. It intrigued me enough that I want to continue on with the series. The second was Charles Burns' Black Hole, a disturbing story about a group of 1970s teenagers infected by an STD that causes horrific bodily mutations. For awhile David Fincher was attached to a potential film version, but that appears to have gone by the wayside. Personally, I would dig a film adaptation in the rotoscope animation style of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly.

Now reading: David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

_________________"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."Letterboxd Profile

Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:46 pm

Steven

Second Unit Director

Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:29 amPosts: 325Location: Watertown, SD

Re: What are you reading?

Blonde Almond wrote:

Steven wrote:

After watching No Country for Old Men for the first time, I decided that I must read the novel. Excellent so far.

Have you read any other McCarthy? No Country For Old Men was the first of his I read. It works as a nice introduction to his work, although in the grand scheme of things it's one of his lesser efforts.

Its his first novel that I've read. I'm definitely interested in looking into some other things he's done.

I've read No Country For Old Men, Suttree, and Blood Meridian. They're all very good, but all have very different personalities. NCFOM is the closest to a mainstream thriller--not too dense, lots of mystery to it, etc. It's not hard to see why some of its critics accuse it of being lightweight, but I do like the book. Suttree is a much more whimsical book. It doesn't give you much to keep pulling you through it, so you have to bring your own investment to it and appreciate it for the qualities of its prose and its weird characters. It's a long book and it doesn't give you an attention-grabbing hook moment every five pages. Blood Meridian is his best that I've read, but it's also easily the most stomach-churning depiction of violence I've ever experienced in any medium. "Unflinching" is kind of a cliche, but that's absolutely what Blood Meridian is. It's a thoroughly pessimistic depiction of human beings as base, terribly brutal creatures.

_________________The temptation is to like what you should like--not what you do like... another temptation is to come up with an interesting reason for liking it that may not actually be the reason you like it.

Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:53 pm

Blonde Almond

Cinematographer

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:41 pmPosts: 504Location: The Desert

Re: What are you reading?

Saw this at the library and felt compelled to give it a quick read:

This was published just after the first Cannes screening of 2046, so it's missing extended thoughts on that film, as well as thoughts on Wong's contribution to Eros, My Blueberry Nights and The Grandmaster. But it goes into strong detail on the recurring motifs, techniques, and themes of Wong Kar-wai's films up to that point, and on that level there is definitely a good deal of value, especially concerning some of his more "difficult" films.

I did find it distracting though that, despite it being a heavily-researched academic text, there seemed to be several clear factual errors, like the author's strange assertion that Mean Streets was Martin Scorcese's debut film, and that the music playing throughout Days Of Being Wild is Hawaiian (it's actually Brazilian), among others. Also, when talking about Ashes Of Time, the author is quick to tie in references to Kurosawa, but surprisingly none to the Zatoichi films (which like Wong's film prominently feature a blind swordsman), which seemed like an obvious connection to make. He also seems very willing to shoot down the theories of others (including David Bordwell) in favor of his own interpretations. These little quirks distracted me a little from the points the author was trying to get across, but I still found it illuminating and helpful overall.

_________________"The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool."Letterboxd Profile

Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:28 pm

Steven

Second Unit Director

Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:29 amPosts: 325Location: Watertown, SD

Re: What are you reading?

Re-reading The Great Gatsby for the umpteenth time. I can't get enough of that book.

Harlan Coben's Stay Close. He recycles the same plot over and over (something happens in the past and the protagonists have to decipher that out while trying to stay alive... maybe add in a few psychos here and there), but his books are quick and often so entertaining that he's my favorite "beach book"-type writer. The formula is getting stale here, but this one has a few good characters. Also a pair of truly memorable psychos (extremely polite, sadistic religious nutjobs called Ken and Barbie) that are two of his scarier villains.

Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:11 am

p604

Assistant Second Unit Director

Joined: Sat Oct 20, 2012 9:17 amPosts: 181

Re: What are you reading?

I am currently reading all the Ross O Carroll Kelly books

Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:45 pm

Jeff Wilder

Director

Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:07 pmPosts: 1460

Re: What are you reading?

Just was gifted with the paperback edition of Walter Isaacson's Jobs and am loving it so far.

_________________This ain't a city council meeting you know-Joe Cabot

Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out-Martin Scorsese.

Finished The Great Gatsby. Doesn't feel in love with it as the reputation would suggest, but the writing is lovely and that ending will definitely stay with me. So tragic.

Sun Jan 05, 2014 11:45 am

oafolay

Assistant Second Unit Director

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:52 pmPosts: 92

Re: What are you reading?

The Secret, a book that has fast become one of my favorites!

Sun Jan 05, 2014 3:27 pm

Mark III

Assistant Director

Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:43 pmPosts: 837

Re: What are you reading?

Recently finished the latest collection from George Saunders, Tenth of December. The most wonderful of these stories was 'The Semplica Girl Diaries", originally published in The New Yorker. Very highly recommended, one of the better pieces of contemporary fiction I've read in the last year.

"He thought the world's heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world's pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower."

That's from All The Pretty Horses and is maybe his ultimate statement as an author. It's also the kind of sentence that those who want to write want to write.

_________________"The Internet has given everybody in America a voice. For some reason, everybody decides to use that voice to bitch about movies." - Holden McNeil

Wed Feb 12, 2014 1:21 am

Big_Mike

Second Unit Director

Joined: Sun Jan 19, 2014 8:15 pmPosts: 254

Re: What are you reading?

Reading Homicide A year on the killing streets. Probably the most fascinating book you'll ever read. Also Slimed an oral history of Nickelodeon's Golden Age.

Sat Feb 15, 2014 6:46 pm

Ken

Director

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:26 pmPosts: 1728

Re: What are you reading?

Mark III wrote:

@ Cormac McCarthy

"He thought the world's heart beat at some terrible cost and that the world's pain and its beauty moved in a relationship of diverging equity and that in this headlong deficit the blood of multitudes might ultimately be exacted for the vision of a single flower."

That's from All The Pretty Horses and is maybe his ultimate statement as an author. It's also the kind of sentence that those who want to write want to write.

I like this shit. An Imma read this shit. Belee dat.

...Right after I finish Moby Dick, which I just started.

And in the meantime, I read through Anansi Boys, Needful Things, and the complete (finished) novels of Raymond Chandler, so now I'm on this conversational narration kick and I'm working on a short story that will hopefully function in that idiom.

_________________The temptation is to like what you should like--not what you do like... another temptation is to come up with an interesting reason for liking it that may not actually be the reason you like it.

I'm reading my Daughter what I genuinly consider to be one of the greatest ever books "Danny the Champion of the World".

Just wonderful. The ultimate book of parenthood. There is something of a film adaptation, starring no less than that sublime actor, Jeremy Irons,. But, alas, doesn't quite equal the novel

_________________... because I'm a wild animal

Sat Feb 15, 2014 7:34 pm

peng

Director

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:42 pmPosts: 1378Location: Bangkok

Re: What are you reading?

Somehow that is Dahl's book that I remember vividly most from reading as a kid, maybe because it is his most realistic setting (if we're not counting his adult novels). Also may be the first thriller moment I got from a book, as I still recall, at 7 or 8, gripping the book hard while Danny was driving the car through the dark.

Sat Feb 15, 2014 10:14 pm

Mark III

Assistant Director

Joined: Sat Aug 04, 2012 5:43 pmPosts: 837

Re: What are you reading?

Ken wrote:

Mark III wrote:

...Right after I finish Moby Dick, which I just started.

.

There are entire passages that could double as some of the most incredible poetry of any era. Taken out of their context, they might as well be. It's one of the more challenging novels I've read (and at university, too; I wouldn't have likely self-directed myself through it) and one of the more rewarding, not the least in the descriptions and Melville's "I wish I could do that, too" prose.

_________________"The Internet has given everybody in America a voice. For some reason, everybody decides to use that voice to bitch about movies." - Holden McNeil

Somehow that is Dahl's book that I remember vividly most from reading as a kid, maybe because it is his most realistic setting (if we're not counting his adult novels). Also may be the first thriller moment I got from a book, as I still recall, at 7 or 8, gripping the book hard while Danny was driving the car through the dark.

Its idea of what a parent (a Dad specifically) is to a young child is beautifully sublime

_________________... because I'm a wild animal

Sun Feb 16, 2014 4:57 am

Steven

Second Unit Director

Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:29 amPosts: 325Location: Watertown, SD

Re: What are you reading?

For all of you who enjoyed The Spectacular Now, the novel is well worth a read. Tons of material that didn't make it into the film. Plus you'll get a much better understanding of Sutter. Reading this has made me appreciate Teller's performance even more than I did previously.

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